Hmmm, I would be worried about the extra wear and tear on swingarm bushings.

How will this behave during a prolonged lean, as in constant cross wind. The concept of a motorcyle tire is to have the same amount of tire to road contact straitline as well as turns. How about drifting through a turn? Did anybody mount a CT and then test it on a road course? The old bias ply tires that look similar to car tires were skinnier than what you guys are mounting. What is the wear pattern after 10k? How about fuel consumption?

 

Let's do the math.

I ride 7,000 miles per year. My current MC tire (D407) has 11,000 miles and I could put another 3,000 miles on it before it's toast.

This means that a rear tire is good for 2 years with me.
The new American Elite I bought to replace it cost me $150 at Jake Wilson. If I go with a CT, instead of spending $150 every 2 years, I'll spend them every 4 years. Great, no?
Not so fast.
At 40mpg on average, I'll buy 350 gal of gas to put 14,000 miles on the odo. At $3.70/gal (I put Premium), that's $1,295 or more than 8 times what a rear tire costs me.
All the feedbacks from darksiders I've read indicate that running a CT on a bike, and an under-inflated one to boot, dropped their mpg by 3 mpg, sometimes more.
So that's 37mpg instead of 40, right?

Bottom line, I could save a whopping $46 every 2 years with a CT.

Thanks but I think I'll pass.

 

nope...there are too busy riding than to post bullsh!t about how dangerous it is by people who have no data to backup their bullsh!t. I have never heard from anyone that a CT caused an accident.

 

My FE is the same; 36 mpg. Many others report the same; I don't know where French got that. I'd expect less if I had one of those superwide steamroller skins on the back, and maybe those are the ones getting worse mileage.
Bottom line: a thinner CT is still more tractive, smoother and longer lasting than a MT, and has less crossover feel to it. And a 175 like mine isn't exactly SKINNY on a bike either. It IS a bit more expensive on floorboards though; I keep scraping them off...

 

It is up to everybody to assess their own tolerance for risk vs benefit and whether saving a few bucks is worth whatever risk. Motorcycle companies and the tire companies spend enormous resources evaluating loads, stresses, compounds etc. and if one thinks they are just producing a product in a certain way to trick everyone then that is your perogative. For me, I am going to listen to the experts in the field who actually engage in the science of evaluating tires for my selections. For those who think you are smarter than them I hope the personal represenative of your estate recognizes the choice you have made and writes the result off to personal choice and risk assessment rather than blaming others. JMHO

 

I got that through a good dozen of posts on the Darksiders Forum written by people who experienced a deterioration of their gas mileage. When you use a wider/softer tire (more friction) and you under-inflate it in order for the sides to flex in curves (more friction again) your gas mileage will decrease.
3mpg is not dramatic when you're used to 40mpg, that's less than 10%. But when you ride 7,000 miles or more every year, at $3.75 a gallon, your saving on tires will be more than offset by the increased spending on gas.

 

If you guys don't want to use a CT, that's fine, no one has a problem with that. This thread is for those that do, if it bothers you so much then don't read the thread.

 

Nothing bothers me. You can use all the CTs you want, I don't care. It's your decision.
This doesn't prevent me from researching on the subject and realizing that there are some positives but also some negatives. The most important negative in my opinion is that the savings due to higher longevity are wiped out by lower gas mileage.

Now, if you don't want to see negative or skeptical comments on CTs, post your stuff on a Darksiders Forum where everyone uses them. I'm just saying.

 

And for the nay sayers, I specifically stated when I posed my questions that I wasn't looking to open the argument back up, I was looking for specific information, but thanks to those who know how to read and gave me what I was looking for.

 

Since the subject has been brought up, I have not lost any mileage, none. I get the same mpg I always did.